REPORT: WOLVES 26 - 24 GIANTS

The Claret and Gold travelled to the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Easter Monday and battled closely with Warrington throughout the full 80 minutes but were unable to keep the Wire at bay, despite having a chance to level the scores in the last seconds.

The Giants did not get off to the start they would have wanted as Harvey Livett opened the scoring for the home side. Declan Patton missing the conversion attempt on the first attempt.

However, the Claret and Gold soon got back on a level footing after they were awarded a penalty after a high tackle on Lee Gaskell. The Giants made the most of the field play and quick hands were able to find Darnell McIntosh who held off his Wolves counterpart to cross the line and level the scores. Danny Brough narrowly missed the conversion attempt to leave the scores level at 4-4.

The scoreline swung back in favour of the home side as Daryl Clark weaved his way through the Giants defence, both McIntosh and Mamo struggling to bring the hooker down, after an exchange with Kurt Gidley. This time Patton was on target with his conversion.

The game continued to be a tight affair with both sides having their attacking chances. Kruise Leeming found space to break from dummy-half and found Mamo with a well-timed pass, who scored for his second consecutive try since making his Giants debut on Wednesday night against Catalans Dragons. This time Brough slotted his conversion attempt through the posts to land his first points of the afternoon.

The Giants were later awarded a penalty for a push and opted to take the two points on offer with Brough scoring from in front of the sticks to put the Giants into a slim lead 10-12.

It was not long before quick hands saw Wolves break down field and McGillvary looked like he had successfully intercepted but was pulled back for a knock-on and from ten metres out Gidley was able to power his way over the try line with Patton on target with his conversion to moves the Wire into a 16-12 lead.

As the first-half came to a close, Mamo showed off his defensive exploits as he provided an excellent last ditch tackle to prevent the Wire’s Benjamin Jullien from crossing the line and Wolves went into the break in the lead with the scores at 16-12.

It was the Giants who scored the first points of the second-half. After a tight opening ten minutes, Brough got over the line after a well worked attack from the Giants saw the Wire defence into pressure and Brough able to jump from dummy-half to force the ball over the line. The Giants number six then converted his try to swing the scoreline back in the Giants favour at 18-16.

Stefan Ratchford looked like he had scored but was brought down just short of the try line as the Giants were able to clear the lines.

The Giants were then able to extend their narrow lead as Wolves for penalised after Chris Hill was deemed offside by referee Ben Thaler and Brough took the two points on offer and once again proved on target with his kicking.

Back-to-back tries for the Wire moved them back into the lead as Rhys Evans and Toby King both crossed the line after the Giants gave away penalties.

As the clock wound down the Giants were awarded a scrum from ten metres out and the Claret and Gold moved the ball out well to the far corner where Jermaine McGillvary was able to cross over, however Brough missed the conversion which saw the Giants fall short of rescuing a point.